Conventionally, there has been known an imaging apparatus having a magnification converting lens in addition to a variable power lens. The variable power lens is a lens which continuously changes magnification by moving the lens in an optical axis direction and is exemplified by an optical zoom lens. In contrast to this, the magnification converting lens is a lens which discontinuously shifts magnification by inserting into and extracting from the optical axis and is typically called an extender. The magnification converting lens includes an enlarged type and a reduced type, which are called a teleconverter and a wide-converter respectively.
The enlarged-type magnification converting lens is useful in imaging at high magnification. When the magnification is low, the magnification converting lens is extracted, and in that state, the magnification is adjusted by the variable power lens. When the magnification is increased and only the variable power lens is not sufficient for magnification, the magnification converting lens is inserted for imaging at high magnification. For example, such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-202263.
Meanwhile, in a security camera, and like, a mask (masks) may be composited to a privacy zone (zones) in an image for privacy protection. The privacy zone is, for example, a private home. For example, mask data representing a predetermined privacy zone is preliminarily stored in the imaging apparatus. Based on the mask data, a mask is composited to a privacy zone of an imaging image and the image in the privacy zone is hidden. For example, such a technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-69494.
However, the conventional imaging apparatus has a problem in that when the imaging magnification is discontinuously changed by switching the magnification converting lens, the angle of view is greatly changed, the mask is shifted from the privacy zone, the privacy zone extends beyond the mask, and the part to be hidden may be revealed. For example, when the imaging magnification is increased by inserting the extender, the angle of view is narrowed, the privacy zone is enlarged and moved relatively to the image, and the image may be shifted from the mask.